It was the last day of my trip to BenQ headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan. I was sitting across from Mr. Jeffrey Liang, President of BenQ Asia Pacific Corporation, and Mr. Rajeev Singh, Managing Director, BenQ India. Both of them love projectors and the technology that brings the big screen home. So, when I asked them where they see projector technology 5 years from now, both of them, in unison, highlighted how 3D holographic projection would be cool, something straight out of Blade Runner 2049. But that’s gazing into the future. For now, let’s take a look at what made BenQ the giant that it is and what it currently has to offer to consumers.
Always at the forefront!
Today, BenQ is the number one DLP projector brand in India for 11 years and the number one 4K projector brand in India for the past 7 years. However, this didn’t just happen overnight. BenQ has a history of offering some of the best home cinema technologies. Below is a brief overview of the technologies BenQ has brought to the world of home entertainment projectors.
2009 – The first ISF-certified projector
2013 – The first RGBRGB Wheel projector
2015 – The first 1080p, 100% Rec 709 with CinematicColour projector
2016 – The first THX-certified projector
2017 – The first 4K SSI DCI-P3 with HDR Pro projector
2018 – 4K home entertainment projector with Rec 709 colour space
2019 – 4K HDR projectors with 100% DCI-P3 Adoption to market
2023-25 – HDR DCI-P3 High Brightness with SSI Light Source – World’s first AI cinema.
Bringing the theatre home!
If you thought you needed to build a special room with dedicated speakers and an expensive screen just to enjoy movies, I’d say think again. While BenQ caters to home theatre enthusiasts, it is also working to facilitate those on the go, living in rented accommodation, with portable projectors that pack quite a punch. We recently reviewed the BenQ GV50, a portable projector that you can not only carry with you on the go, but can also project on any wall in your house to ensure you get the big screen experience. With its unique design, you don’t need to worry about placing it on a flat surface. It can be adjusted on an uneven surface, such as a bed, to ensure a perfect horizontal image on the screen. You can learn more about the projector in our review here.
However, those seeking the very best are also well covered. Their latest offering, the BenQ W5800, is a flagship projector that is available in India. We had the opportunity to experience this projector in action, and while the experience was phenomenal, one feature deserves special attention: Dynamic Contrast. While the cinephile in you may know this exists on TVs, it makes a world of difference in projectors, especially when consuming content on a 120+ inch screen, ensuring bright highlights look sharp and the details in dark sequences aren’t crushed. The way dynamic contrast enhances the viewing experience is commendable. Needless to say, the projector’s overall performance was immersive during our demo.
Monitors that care for your eyes
Switching gears to monitors, BenQ has had a history of making some of the best monitors you can buy. During my time at the BenQ HQ, I got a very deep dive into the amount of research they do before building a monitor for productivity. From coming to India and working with programmers to see the lighting conditions in the room, to judging the requirements for a dark mode and readability of text, blue light filtering for prolonged use (for use cases like programmers or coders), the depth and breath of research conducted is incredible to ensure the monitor works as intended for the use case without causing fatigue. Let me give you a quick demo of the output of this research in the video below.
Gaming is a whole new kind of beast to conquer. While BenQ already offers ultrawide and OLED monitors, their current portfolio does not include QD-OLED monitors. However, that technology is not off the table. The team tells me that “they are working on it and will launch when they are ready with a monitor that stands up to their quality standards.”
During my time at BenQ’s HQ, I got an extremely cool demo of their gaming monitor. Rather than me typing it all out, why don’t you watch me explain it?
While some want to tinker with the detailed settings of the monitors, others simply want the monitor to do the work for them. And that’s what the above demo shows. As for the game profiles, we can expect BenQ to add more colour profiles for upcoming games post-launch.
One thing must be noted. The above would not be possible without the immense efforts that BenQ pours into the colour fidelity of its monitors and projectors. The famous German-American painter, Hans Hofmann, once said, “In nature, light creates the colour. In the picture, colour creates the light.” And BenQ has taken this quote to heart.
The BenQ colour lab we visited was relatively new, and the demos on offer reflected BenQ’s commitment to ensuring you get the best possible colours. I participated in this really cool demo during which I was asked to find the odd colour on a MacBook Pro display (considered by many to be a very good colour-accurate display). After that, I was asked to perform the same test on a BenQ colour-calibrated monitor. The difference in the results was startling. Not only was I able to catch the slightest of colour differences on the BenQ monitor, rendering a higher score, but the speed at which I could do it was also incredible. Both speed and accuracy were captured in the test, and this is one of those things that you need to see to believe. Why don’t you check it out in the video below
Another interesting thing to note is how the BenQ monitors and projectors work in harmony. In the video above, one of the demos showcased was for editing videos, and it allowed users to see real-time changes. So, if a filmmaker wants a more Noirish colour tone or simply a more vibrant look, the colours will be mastered to perfection.
Welcome to the smarter classroom
We also had a chance to experience BenQ’s smart displays. These displays are designed for both the classroom and the boardroom, ensuring seamless dissemination of information and a more interactive experience. While the application of the smart board can be seen in the video below, it is the efforts to bring rural education in India up to international standards that are heartwarming.
BenQ partnered with Ranjitsinh Disale back in 2023 to install interactive displays in remote schools. These collaborations transformed the classrooms from traditional learning spaces into smart learning environments. This helped bridge the digital divide between urban and rural education. It also helped empower students by not only providing them with the tools they need to succeed but also giving them access to a next-generation learning experience where the limitations of physical textbooks no longer bind them. I mean, isn’t it easier to see the process of photosynthesis rather than read about it?
But that’s not all, BenQ has also partnered with Sonam Wangchuk, Founder, HIAL (best known as the inspiration for Phunsukh Wangdu, the character played by Aamir Khan in the film 3 Idiots) to provide interactive displays in Ladakh to ensure the children of the region arent left behind with regards to educational access.
The visit to BenQ’s headquarters in Taiwan was more than a simple tech showcase. It was a look into the philosophy that dictates their innovations. From projects that cover a range of budgets, to monitors that offer gamers and creators access to colour-accurate displays. While Mr. Liang and Mr. Singh’s prediction of 3D holographic projectors might have seemed far-fetched at first, it appears that BenQ is determined to turn science fiction into science fact.
